OPDX 641 December 29, 2003

The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 641
BID: $OPDX.641
December 29, 2003
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, K1XN & GoList, NC1L, NG3K, W3UR & The Daily DX, K4VUD, N4AA & QRZ DX, N4KZ, W4DKS, KN5G, N5FG, K8JE, K8YSE, CT1EEB, DL/VE3ZIK & www.contesting.info, F5CWU & La Gazette du DX, F5NQL & UFT, I0JBL, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, JI6KVR & JA-IOTA Islands News, M5AAV, UA2FM, VA3RJ & ICPO, XE1KK, XE2AC, Z35M and ZL4HU for the following DX information.

SPECIAL EDITOR'S NOTE
My family (wife/OPDX's chief proof-reader Linda, Teddy [TJ] and wife Jessica, Katie) and I (KB8NW) would like to wish all DXers, Contesters and OPDX readers a very "Happy Safe and Healthly New Year". Also, we would like thank the many who have contributed information over the year (there are too many to list). REMEMBER, without them there would not be an OPDX Bulletin. I would also thank the many who sent holiday greetings. I tried to answer some and wished I could answer each one of them individually, but it would take a huge amount of time. You would not believe the amount of E-mail I receive......
73 and Have a Great Holiday de Tedd KB8NW

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT
According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 21st/December, through Sunday, 28th/December there were 214 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3DA, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4W, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5H, 5R, 5U, 5V, 5X, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9M6, 9N, 9V, 9Y, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, AP, BV, BY, C3, C6, C9, CE, CE0Y, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FW, FY, G, GD, GI, GM, GU, GW, H4, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HC8, HI, HK, HK0/a, HL, HP, HR, HS, HV, HZ, I, IS, J6, J8, JA, JD/m, JD/o, JT, JW, JY, K, KH0, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ7, PY, PY0F, PZ, S2, S5, S9, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T7, T8, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TR, TT, TU, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V3, V5, V7, VE, VK, VK9L, VK9N, VP8, VP8/h, VQ9, VR, VU, XE, XU, YA, YB, YI, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZC4, ZD7, ZD9, ZF, ZK1/s, ZL, ZP, ZS

* PLEASE NOTE: The report "could" contain "Pirate/SLIM" operations. As always, you never know - "Work First Worry Later" (WFWL).

1A, SMOM
The following is a press release on an upcoming operation from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM). Luciano Blasi, I0JBL, reports: Following the significant number of "new one" requests received in these years, a team led by Francesco, IK0FVC, will activate 1A0KM during the weekend from January 2nd to January 5th, 2004. Other team members will be I0JBL, IK0FTA and IK0PRG. From the beginning this operation, the QSL manager for the 1A0KM's activities will be Sergio, IK0FTA. For further information an E-mail address will be activated:

1a0km@sixitalia.org

5V, TOGO
Members of the F6KOP Le Radio Club de Provins 77 (near Paris) plan to be active from Lome (Grid Square JJ06) as 5V7C from March 6-12th. Operators mentioned are: Dany/F5CW (one of the TO4E gang), Franck/F4AJQ, Pascal/F5TVG, Pascal/F5JSD, Romain/F8BUI and Guenther/F5VHQ/OE5TGL. Activity will be on 160-6 meters CW,SSB and Digital. QSL Manager is F5TVG: Franck Savoldi, P.O. Box 92, F94223 Charenton Cedex, FRANCE. An E-mail address is available for more information, suppoort, sponsoring, help, skeds and etc at:

5V7C@free.fr
The groups Web page (in French) is available at:
http://5v7c.free.fr

6Y, JAMAICA
Martin, KN5G, will be active as 6Y5/KN5G until January 4th. He E-mailed OPDX and states that all operations are QRP with an Elecraft K2 using mostly battery power and a vertical dipole along the beach in Negril. Martin states, "The only problem now is I am running out of log sheets!" OPDX spotted him on 80/40/20/17/15/12/10 meters CW this past week.

9N, NEPAL (News)
Charles Harpole, K4VUD, informed the DX community this past week that his efforts (along with Satish/9N1AA) to expand ham radio in 9N-land including a memorial club station for Father Moran, 9N1MM 9SK), are on an indefinite hold due to the disturbed social and political conditions there. All radios, including other gear and cash, that was donated some years ago have been distributed to the existing licensed native 9N hams (cash used immediately upon donation to purchase needed items like coax and Morse keys, etc.). Charles states, "That gear will come back to a club station someday. Foreign visitors have operated there, as you know. Please bear with this situation and extend understanding."

A5, BHUTAN
Dane, S57CQ, is now active as A52CQ and is expected to stay in Bhutan through January 14th. Activity is expected to be on all bands as much as possible (no 160m). He was spotted this past weekend on 40m (as early as 1700z and as late as 2345z, then moves to 80m), 20m (1230- 1300) and 10m (after 0900z). QSL via S57DX.

DXCC NEWS
ARRL Great Lakes Division Director Jim Weaver, K8JE, informs OPDX that Kirk E. Swallow, W8QID, of Cincinnati, OH, was appointed the Great Lakes Division Representative on the DXAC, effective January 1, 2004. He will succeed Billy (Pick) Pickard, WA5PAE, who had recently became a "Silent Key" (SK). Kirk is a lifelong worker/manager in the field of two-way communications and retired recently from Verizon as a technical area manager. He is former president of the Queen City Emergency Net (Red Cross affiliate) and is an active member of the SWODXA. He has gone on numerous DXpeditions to the Caribbean (most recently to TI a couple of weeks ago) and is listed at 345 at the Top of the (DX) Honor Roll. Kirk and his wife Joyce serve as QSL Managers for a variety of DXpeditions.

LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY
Members of the Five Flags Amateur Radio Association (FFARA), W4UC, will once again operate from the Pensacola Lighthouse (ARLHS USA-592) from the Naval Air Station Pensacola (Escambia county Florida, WW Loc. EM60ii) on January 1, 2004. This will be the FFARA's 3rd annual event from the Lighthouse. The FFARA broadcasted their very first official Amateur station from inside the Lighthouse 3 years ago with assistance from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. January 1st marks a special day as it was on January 1st in 1859 when the light was first lit in the Pensacola Lighthouse. W4UC plans on having a minimum of 3 stations operating on 40/20/15/10/6 meters from 1500-2200z. For QSL information, look up W4UC on QRZ.com Web site. They will be using ARLHS member #844. QSL via operator's instructions.

IOTA NEWS
EU-157. John, F5VHQ, will be active from Ile de Cezembre (DIFM MA-008) as F5VHQ between now and January 2nd. Activity on bands/modes were not provided. QSL via his home callsign.

OC-201. By the time you read this, Jonathan, W1CU, should have operated again from Waiheke Island in New Zealand on his way back to the US. He was on the air very briefly on December 27th as ZL/W1CU. QSL to his home call. ADDED NOTE: Jonathan worked about 650 stations on the second day of the CQWW CW Contest from the same site on OC-201.

J49, CRETE
Peri, HB9IQB, will be active as J49PM in the CQ WPX CW Contest (May 29-30th) as a Single-Op/Single Band (15m)/Low Power entry. QSL to his home callsign via the Bureau.

KP2, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS (Special Event)
To celebrate the New Year, remember to look for operators David/N4KZ and Mark/K4MCE to activate the special event station, N4Z, between December 30th to January 6th from St. Croix. Activity will be on 160-6 meters, SSB and CW. QSL via N4KZ.

PACIFIC OPERATIONS (A3 and T2)
Sara/HA9SD and Eli/HA9RE are expected to be active during the new year from Tuvalu between January 1-18th (their callsigns not yet known) and from Tonga as A35RE from January 20th to February 4th. They will have two stations active with operations on 80-10 meters CW/SSB. QSL ONLY direct to HA8IB (with 2 new IRCs or 2 USD).

QSL INFO AND NEWS
Please note that QSLs for 4N25K go only DIRECT to YU1SB. The address is: Bozic Slavko, Jurija Gagarina 196/50, Novi Beograd, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO.

Please note QSL info for station T9/9A3GZ, who was active in CQWW CW Contest, ARRL 160m Contest...etc, is T98U (via the bureau) or 9A3GZ (direct).

Graham, M5AAV, informs OPDX that he now has the logs and QSL cards for the TX4PG operation and is in a position to handle "Bureau Requests Only" for last year's Dxpedition.

Victor Loginov, UA2FM, UA2 QSL Bureau official, informs OPDX that on December 6th during a UA2 annual meeting, they decided to start their own incoming QSL bureau. This means that they will stop getting incoming QSL cards from SRR QSL Bureau in Moscow (P.O.Box 88). The new address is: UA2 QSL Bureau, ROSTO Technical School, ul.Ozyornaya 31, Kaliningrad, 236029, Russia. Please update your QSL bureau address book, and from now on send all QSL cards for UA2 only to the address above. Otherwise they won't get them. ADDED NOTE: Victor mentions UA2 is the second call area of Russia. They have the following active prefixes: all UA2, RA2, RK2, RU2, RV2, RX2 and R2MWO (permanent callsign for the Museum of the World Ocean). (Note that RK21Z was from R1Z.) RW2F is a contest call for the UA2 Contest Club, RK2FWA.

Vlado, ZA/Z35M, informs OPDX that all direct QSL cards for ZA/Z35M, Z35M and Z3100M received no later than December 22nd, have been answered the same way they were received. All QSLs for the Z3100M operation were sent via the bureau. Direct QSLs should be sent via Z35M to: Vladimir Kovaceski, Box 10, Struga 6330, Macedonia.

The Kermadec DX Association along with ZL2HU and ZL4HU wish to advise that with the very strong New Zealand Dollar the way it is at the present, one green stamp no longer covers the cost of ECONOMY postal replies to QSL cards. However, one IRC is still sufficient to cover return mail costs. The Association will respond directly to all requests posted to them before January 1, 2004, where there has been only one green stamp included. As they are a non profit organization, all cards mailed to them on and after January 1, 2004, which do not include sufficient funds for Ecomomy Class return mail will be replied to VIA THE BUREAU. If and when the U.S. Dollar gains some ground against the New Zealand Dollar, they will further consider their position. THEY do appologize for this delay for those expecting to receive cards by the direct mode, but it is beyond their control when governments set currency exchange rates that are not favourable to their cause. "I trust you will all understand. Regards ..... Ken Holdom, ZL4HU, Group Organizer/Team Leader/QSL Manager for the Kermadec DX Association."

SURVEY BEING TAKEN
Jose, CT1EEB, informs OPDX that he is just taking a survey and nothing else but a survey, your reply and help will be mostly appreciated. "From the DXCC Entities/IOTA Ref., what would you vote as the most-wanted for you concerning the bands you need (from 160-6 meters and IOTA Ref.)?"

  • A) 4W - Rep. Dem. Timor Leste
  • B) D2 - Angola (and the Luanda Province Group for IOTA)
  • C) S9 - S. Tome (Rolas Islet IOTA AF-023)
  • D) C9 - Mozambique (Mozambique Island or Bazaruto for IOTA)
  • E) VU - India (the Goa State group for IOTA) Once again let them know what bands you still need for these DXCC Entities. Jose states, "Let me remind you that this is not a DXpedition project, just a survey I am doing." Jose's E-mail address is:
    zemurtosa@mail.telepac.pt

    TI, COSTA RICA
    Bob, KE0UI, is now active as TI5/KE0UI but only until December 31st. He states that he will only be using low power with modest antennas, and CW on the WARC bands will be his priority. QSL via his CBA or via the Bureau.

    TO4E QRT
    The TO4E/TO4WW team is back home and stopped their transmissions December 20th around 2000z. Dany, F5CW, reports they made 34,000 QSOs. Their logs are now available on the Web at:

    http://europa2003.free.fr/
    Logs were temporarily suspended earlier due to a complaint by the ARRL. The log search contained a wild card feature which Wayne, N7NG/7, from the League stated could compromise the QSLing integrity.

    VK9C, COCOS-KEELING ISLAND
    Just a reminder that Ken, JA1CMD, will be active from here as VK9CA now through January 2nd. Activity will be on 80-10 meters CW/SSB with only 100 watts. QSL via JA1CMD or K4ST.

    VK9X, CHRISTMAS ISLAND (Very early Announcement!)
    David, VK2CZ, will be active from here as VK9XD between December 3-12th, 2004. Activity will be on all bands plus include an entry in the ARRL 10m DX Contest (December 11-12th) using a 7 element monobander (at 330m ASL) with 400 watts. David makes the following statement about his operation: "It is a long way off, and its a long way there. 1st EVER activation in the ARRL 10m contest!!"

    XF4, REVILLAGIGEDO ISLANDS
    Ramon/XE1KK and Luis/XE2AC inform OPDX that the Federacion Mexicana de Radio Experimentadores (FMRE) announced last Sunday, December 21st, a XF4 DXpedition is expected to begin March 3rd, for 2 weeks from Socorro Island (NA-030) using the callsign XF4IH. They mentioned that 95% of the paperwork is ready. There will be 8 operators (all XE ops). Operators mentioned are: Pepe/XE1J, Ismael/XE1AVM, Rafael/ XE1GRR, Javier/XE1KOF, David/XE1XR, Luis/XE1GLL and Martin/XE2ML. Their activity will be on all bands 160-6 meters including the WARC bands, VHF, UHF. The modes will be CW, SSB RTTY and PSK31. No QSL info was mentioned yet. More details to follow.

    Z3, MACEDONIA
    Look for Antonio/IZ8CCW and Pietro/IZ8FWN to be active as either Z38M or Z3/homecalls between January 2-6th. Activity is expected to be on all bands CW, SSB and RTTY. Several members of Z37M are expected to be with them. QSL via IZ8CCW.

    ZF2, CAYMAN ISLANDS
    Just a reminder that Pete, N2LM, will be active as ZF2PD on Grand Cayman Island (NA-016) now through January 8th. Activity will be 80-6 meter CW/SSB. Requests for QSL cards can be sent to his home callsign, N2LM.

    ** IMPORTANT NOTICE/REMINDER **
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    SPECIAL NOTE BY EDITOR:
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